Ordinations of the Papacy from 1447 to 1831

July 14, 2013

In "An Attempt to Date the Episcopal Succession of the Early Church", Apprentice Thomas does excellent research into the origins of the Papacy. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Apprentice Thomas should not have been content to terminate his research at the Episcopal ordinations, but should have continued examining the Presbyterian ordinations of the Popes. To that end, I have used the extensive resources of Catholic-Hierarchy.org to research the Presbyterian ordinations of the Papacy.

Apprentice Thomas discovered that some of the Popes were not Bishops, while the present paper demonstrates that Popes were not consistently ordained to the priesthood until 1775. Highlights of the findings and a discussion follow the Papal list.

Not ordained a priest in red. Not consecrated a Bishop in green.Not ordained a priest and not consecrated a Bishop in blue.If consecrated a Bishop after being elected Pope in italics.If ordained a Bishop after being elevated to Cardinal underlined.​

Of the 384 years under examination, approximately 168 years or 44% were ruled by Popes that were not ordained clergy (in red) and only 24 years (6%) were covered by by Popes who were not consecrated (in green), but were ordained clergy. Popes who were not ordained or consecrated represent 28 years or approximately 7% of the years studied (in blue). In total, 220 years or 57% of the years studied, have reigning Popes who were not ordained or consecrated or both. Clearly, one could be a member of the laity and still rule the Western Church. It is a quirk of the historical Roman church that while priests have the authority to remit sins, the head of the church, being a lay person, could not say Mass or hear a confession.

Popes who where ordained (boldface) or consecrated (underlined) are included for completeness and to demonstrate that, even after their election, Popes were not required to be priests or bishops. Fortunately for the Roman Church, Benedict XIII (reigned 1724-1730) was ordained and concentrated, since the vast majority of Roman Bishops claim apostolic succession from Benedict XIII. Benedict's predecessor and two immediate successors were not ordained and this lack of ordination might call into question any bishops consecrated from 1721 to 1724 and from 1730 to 1758.

From the above list, the only consistency is that one must have been a member of the Roman Senate (today called the College of Cardinals) to be elected to the Papacy. All other considerations, whether being a priest or bishop, were secondary.

As late as 1769, a Pope could be elected who was not ordained and as recent as 1831, a Pope could be elected who was not consecrated. These two facts indicate to this apprentice that the College of Cardinals, and by extension, the Papacy have not existed since time immemorial, rather the College of Cardinals and the Papacy are innovations and the rules, procedures and precedents for those innovations present compelling evidence for their recent origin. ​